Cleaning device for gill-box fallers



.June 18, 1935. H, WHITAKER 2,005,209

CLEANING DEVICE FOR GILL-BOX FALLERS I Filed June 26, 1934 iatented June18, 1935 Thisinvention relates to gill-boxes used in the preparation ofwool for spinning. In the operation of such machines it isf'ound thatdirt'and other waste material accumulates quite rapidly on the fallersandneedles, so that it is necessary 1 proved means by which the lowerfallers and needles ina gill-box may be automatically cleaned as themachine continues to operate, so that lost time due to the cleaning offallers is very largely eliminated.

My invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of partswhich will'be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out iin the appended claim.

A preferred form of the invention is shown in the drawing, in which Fig.1 is a diagrammatic sectional side elevatioin of a gill-box having myinvention embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of certain parts, looking in the direction of thearrow 2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged partial plan view of a cleaning brush;

Fig-4 is a sectional side elevation, taken along the line 44 in Fig. 3,and

Fig. 5 is a rear view, looking in the direction of the arrow 5 in Fig.4.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2, I have shown portions of agill-box of the intersecting type, in which upper and lower sets offallers are used.

The gill-box comprises front or feed rolls III, a stationaryguide H, aseries of upper fallers l2, a series of lower fallers [4, back ordelivery rolls l5, and a guide or trumpet 16 through which the sliver Sis delivered to press rolls l1 and a receiving can I8. An apron orconveyor l9 runs over the lower back or'delivery roll l5.

The fallers l2 and M are progressively advanced toward the deliveryrolls l5. bygill-screws 20 and 2| (Fig. 2). After completing theirtravel toward the delivery rolls IS, the upper fallers are raised andthe lower fallers are lowered to secondary gill screws (not shown) whichare of steeper pitch and return the fallers toward the feed rolls ID asindicated by the arrow (1 in Fig; 1.

After completing their return travel, the upper fallers are lowered and.the lower fallers are raised :PATE I iCE. I parameter-1 9x HarryWhitaker. Scuth'fBarre'," Mass Application ,itiiiefzs, lN'c. H v

1 Th art hu y rd s n d a the; s

om er i l t eaad nr r hems lv si rm n art Of my Pr ent .i ven o =.w.h hr lates P rtia l- I U forcleaning. tha werler 1. nd. th needl s t re ,dr et n eturn moveme t-. 2 ni ia ina sifi larly to .the: provision of.improved ,means For this p r os el ril vi a br hl pret rably formed of aplurality of tuft s 25 of stiff bristles or wire mounted in a rigid backor cross bar 26 preferably having enlarged end portions 21. The bar 26may be of wood, aluminum or any other suitable material.

The ends 21 of the bar 26 are secured by screws 28 to angle brackets 30having elongated slots 3| (Fig. 4). Bolts 32 extend through the slots 3|andsecure the brackets to the side frames 33 of the gill-box. I

I position the brush B so that it will engage the fallers I after theyhave completed their forward return movement and while they are beinglifted to replace them in initial working position as indiplaced thebristles upwardly, at the same time wiping the dirt and other wastematerial from said faller l4 and its needles N. r As the fallercontinues its upward movement, the bristles 25 willwipe downward alongthe side of the faller to its bottom edge and will then'snap back intonormal position, forcibly discharging the dirt and waste materialdownward to the floor or to a suitable receptacle.

' The faller [4 thus cleaned continues its upward movement to initialworking position at the feeding end of the machine and resumes itstravel toward the delivery end of the machine.

Important advantages arise from locating the brush B at the particularpoint in the machine shown in the drawing. As above described, the

brush l3 atthis point operates on an upwardly moving faller, and thedirt and waste material is thrown downward away from the path ofmovemeat of the Iallers or of the sliver S entering or passing throughthe machine.

Furthermore, ample room is available at this point for mounting thebrush without disturbing the normal setting of any other part of themachine. This position of the brush also permits the iallers to continuetheir travel to points very closely adjacent to the back or deliveryrolls I5. I thus avoid the serious disadvantage of increasing the [pacebetween the fallers and the delivery rolls, and I permltthe machine tooperate on material of very short staple.

In actual operation, my invention has been found entirely satisfactoryand efiective for the purposes indicated and has been found to keep thelower Iallers and needles entlrelvckar of: dirt and waste materialduring long continued operation, thus avoiding the'lost time previouslyoccasioned by frequent cleaning of the. loweriall Y ers. I have notapplied my invention to the cleaning of the upper fallers, as dirtthusremoved would (all "on the sliver and would be seriously objectionable.Furthermore, dirt and waste materlal accumulates very'slowly on theupper fall- -ers and these tellers are substantially less numerous thanthe lower tellers. They are also readily accessible, so that occasionalcleaning of the upper fallers may be accomplished quickly and easily andwith's'light loss of time.

While I have shown my invention applied to an intersecting gill-boxhaving upper and lower fallers, it will be understood that the inventionis equally applicable to the type of gill-box in which the upper fallersl2 are omitted and a single set of lower fallers only is used.

While I have shown a fixed bristle brush in the drawing, the particulartype of brush may be varied and the brush may be eitherfiggedor rotary,provided theworking position of thelbrusli at the feeding end of themachine is inainta'ined.

Having thus described my invention and the advantages thereof, I do notwish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherwise than asset forth in the claim, but what I claim is:-

A gill-box having, in combination, a plurality of fallers having fallerpins and successively movable fronran initial working position along asubstantially rectangular closed path having an uping successively anddirectly engaged by said;

fallers closely adjacent'said pins as said fallers are moving upward toinitial workingposition at the feeding end of the machine.

HARRY WHITAICER.

